


Date of Birth

by piggybackride (mssileas)



Series: Junkers with Overwatch AU [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Junkers with Overwatch AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 23:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18670894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mssileas/pseuds/piggybackride
Summary: There is one information missing on Junkrat's medical chart.





	Date of Birth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArmsShanks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmsShanks/gifts).



> This is a birthday fic for my lovely, wonderful [Shanks](https://armatages.tumblr.com/) :D
> 
> It's a bit of a thought experiment, but I had fun writing it. You'll find most of the Roadrat content is actually just implied here, but anyway, it's always implied in my fics. 
> 
> Have fun!

Angela had dreaded this moment from the second the junkers had arrived at their headquarters - but now that it was here, it turned out not to be so bad after all. 

She couldn’t help but feel uneasy around them, but she figured that was a natural survival instinct around two men who were not only overpowering her in sheer size, but were also known to be quite trigger-happy fellows with only a loose grasp of was “appropriate response” meant. A combination Angela found to be concerning, to put it mildly. 

They had had arguments over recruiting the junkers in the first place for a while. Well, her and Jack and Ana mostly. They were here now despite the worries she had brought forth, so Angela would try and follow the procedure like she’d do for any other recruit. 

Roadhog easily took up half that examination room on his own upon entering. Considering that, it was astounding how that extraordinarily big and heavy man still disappeared in the background of Junkrat’s chatter. He plonked down on two sturdy metal chairs, seemed to take in the room, and then just calmly rested hands on his protruding belly, and sighed deeply. As much as the mask hiding his face was unsettling when Angela tried to gauge the older man’s reactions, it did actually serve to remove him from people’s attention when he was calm like this. Because you didn’t have to pay attention to something with no face she found.

Junkrat was quite another matter. He already barged into the examination room like he owned the place, ooh-ed at all the shiny medical equipment, ahh-ed at the remote controlled exam chair - and then gave it a look that said he was roughly five seconds away from taking it apart and stripping it for spares, so Angela carefully took the remote from him again.

“So’s this were ya live?” Junkrat pulled a face at that thought while he glanced at white, windowless walls and cabinets full of meds in various boxes and bottles. Was a bit sterile for his taste, but the Doc seemed to like it that way. She actually smiled at his question. 

“No, this is just where I work.”

Junkrat made an indistinct ‘Mhh’-sound, already not listening to the answer while he was busy fumbling around with her stethoscope, touching every single one of the wooden tongue depressors - she’d have to throw them all out after their session now, great - and tried to figure out what he could see through the otoscope. Which was usually nothing at all if you just used it like a telescope. 

Angela knew she was supposed to demand some order in her examination room, but in all honesty, sometimes it fascinated her just to watch Junkrat go about his day. She blamed scientific curiosity, because how often did you get the chance to interact with another human that had just never learned how to function in a big society or civilization. 

He simply lacked all inhibitions, because instead of getting taught to not do this or not do that, not to touch things that weren’t his and waiting patiently for his turn, Junkrat had learned to be the center of his own universe. What he wanted was a priority, whether it was necessities for survival or luxury items he just felt like owning. He never saw any reason to contain his curiosity or reign his thoughts into appropriate words - it was quite a phenomenon. Angela just dreaded having to make him comply for the duration of an entire check-up.

As it turned out, the best way was to treat him like any curious eight-year-old. His fiddling mostly stopped as soon as she told him to sit in the exam chair, but when she took an entire thirty seconds to retrieve a blank file Junkrat was already distracted again by seeing how far he could make the chair recline. Currently he was tipped so far back, his feet were above his head, and Angela could hear him giggling, short of breath but still fully entertained by just himself.  
“Anybody ever just slide off this thing ‘n fall on their head?” he asked, ready to just try out his theory, and Angela sighed. 

“No, it… no, this is a doctor’s office, we’re trying not to get people hurt any more than they already are. Can you… can you just move back here so we can get started?”

“We’re supposed to do something?” Now Junkrat sounded really surprised, despite still muffled as the chair slowly whirred back into its original position. Angela blinked at him in irritation for about three seconds, unsure whether no one had actually told the junkers about the mandatory physical check-up, which meant the younger man had just strolled in here as if it was a visit? Or maybe they had been told and Junkrat had forgotten, Angela found both these options completely plausible. 

“Yes, we’re doing your check-up, because as your doctor, I will need to know about your overall health conditions.”

Roadhog made a noise that was stuck between his flat laugh and a deeply concerning cough, but Junkrat didn’t seem phased by it. 

If anything, that suddenly interested him. Angela should have known, probably. When he got to be the center of attention, suddenly he seemed to find it very easy to hold still to let her do reflex tests, check his basic vital signs, marked him down for some dental issues she wanted to take a better look at later and finally drew some blood - for both necessary tests and some that were plain of personal interest. After all, how often did you get to examine a human who had spent most of his years in an environment so hostile he shouldn’t even be here and live to tell the tale.

“Okay, all of this looks very… interesting,” she said very diplomatically, and scrolled back up on her tablet screen, where she noticed an empty field left. It wasn’t one that mattered very much, but she still frowned quizzically at Junkrat, and asked before thinking: “Do you know your birthday?”

Sometimes it was difficult to discern all the emotions displayed at once on Junkrat’s unusually expressive face - she saw confusion and irritation and a shadow of mistrust, followed by something she guessed to be shame. Or sadness. Angela wasn’t sure. 

“Should I?” he asked back, and Angela decided in that moment she liked distracted, babbling, annoying Junkrat more than this eerily serious version of him that suddenly had no troubles anymore holding her gaze. 

Angela instantly regretted asking that question. What was the most normal thing for her was maybe unheard of in Junkertown. Or maybe it was just the kids, who had grown up between radiation and adults as feral as the wild animals in the Outback, who could not even remember their own birthdays, because no one was there to remind them. Maybe the junkers just celebrated every day they got to live as their birthdays. She wished she could have just taken back the question. 

“No, you… no, of course not. I guess you wouldn’t…”, she stumbled over her own words, both of them staring at the empty space on her sheet - and it stared back at them as if it wanted to mock them.

Behind them, Roadhog took a deep breath, as he did often whenever he actually had something worthwhile to say. “Just pick a day, then,” he grumbled through the distorting filters of his mask, effectively distracting Junkrat from the melancholic pit he was just about to fall into. 

The blond perked up. “Can I do that?” he asked Angela, as if she had any kind of authority on when it was okay to just make up someone’s birth date. She figured it wouldn’t be an issue though, after all, that information was barely medically crucial. And she doubted they’d rediscover Junkrat’s actual birth certificate ever again.

“Um, sure. Just tell me a date and I’ll write it down.”

She expected Junkrat to make quite a fuss about his decision, or just declare it would be right today then. Again, she was wrong. 

“April 29.”

Roadhog made a short huffing sound that Angela didn’t pay attention to. She just dutifully noted April 29 as Junkrat’s birth date, wondering why it felt vaguely familiar. 

“Okay, that’s all done then! Roadhog, you’re nex-”

“No.”

There wasn’t even the tiniest bit of room for debate in Roadhog’s deep voice, and Junkrat giggled in delight. “Doc, between us,” He leaned forward so much he was uncomfortably close to Angela’s face. “He’s gonna drop down dead before he lets ya poke’is face with any of yer fancy gadgets. And it’s a butt-ugly face anyway, not missin’ out on anythin’, trust me.” There was a teasing maliciousness in Junkrat’s grin, because he knew exactly that Roadhog could hear every word, but the older man just chuckled in a way that promised revenge later on. 

If Angela was really honest, she wasn’t at all disappointed. 

“Maybe next time then,” she smiled a bit forced, before releasing them. Jack would not be happy about that, but it had been his idea to recruit them in the first place. If he was so set on someone doing a physical on Roadhog, he was free to do it himself. 

After she had aired out the exam room and disinfected the entire equipment about three times over, Angela finally sank back in her chair.April 29. April 29. It didn’t stop echoing in her head. April 29. And how fast Junkrat had been with his response. April 29. 

Finally she couldn’t take it anymore, and snooped a bit further into the archive - and at least Jack did his research properly. Angela had studied the files meticulously, in hopes it would prepare her for what was supposed to be the newest addition to their team. Her search ended as quickly as it had begun. It was the very first file in the archive, maybe that’s why it was stuck in her memory too.

“Mayhem in Singapore Harbour - horrific accident or terror attack? More on p.3”

The article featured the first strike the junkers had ever unleashed upon a civilized nation - but since no one had known about them, the confusion concerning the culprits that had followed had been the perfect camouflage for them. Before anyone had figured out that the passenger ship that had been kidnapped and steered right into the harbour - without slowing down for ship or piers or people in its way - had been hijacked by two escaped junkers, they had vanished already. 

Their first big strike. Like an explosion on impact. The beginning of a series of all crimes petty and major - and it dated back to April 29, 2073.

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  Feedback is highly appreciated, you can also follow me on [tumblr](https://piggyofoz.tumblr.com/)! (NSFW tumblr version [here](https://piggyofoz-nsfw.tumblr.com/).)  
> Thanks for reading. :)


End file.
